Avery’s company was having a team-building cycling trip where family members could join. She brought along her childhood friend. Her business partner couldn’t stand it anymore and secretly sent me photos. The homewrecker was brazenly hugging and kissing my wife in public. As the cycling conditions became more extreme, we found ourselves trapped in a blizzard with thick fog. Avery kicked me away despite my severe injuries, hugging her childhood friend as they fled the mountain. Leaving me alone in the extreme conditions, she coldly said, “You chose to come here yourself.” I was a mess, crawling on the ground, enduring pain and hypothermia, breaking down and begging for help. “Don’t leave me behind. I promise I won’t interfere with you and Jasper anymore!” My breath no longer came out hot, and my vision was gradually blurring. As my body heat faded away, I used my last ounce of strength to grab the hem of Avery’s clothes. I looked at the shapely woman before me, my wife, who impatiently crouched down and shook off my hand. “You chose to come along yourself. Why are you acting so weak now?” She grudgingly pointed towards the direction of the mountain base: “It’s just this short distance. Can’t you make it?” Beside her, her childhood friend Jasper’s cries suddenly stopped. Avery ran over to check on him in a panic: “Baby, baby, wake up. It’s dangerous to fall asleep here.” I couldn’t make a sound, only able to claw at the mud inch by inch, begging her to take pity on me. I didn’t want to die here. I still had dreams, things I hadn’t finished. Avery said she didn’t want children, but I had already started the adoption process. I had originally planned to show Avery photos of the child I had chosen after this cycling trip was over. I had originally wanted to tell her that we shouldn’t argue about past issues anymore, that we were about to welcome a third member to our family. But now my palms were covered in wounds, with no blood left to flow. I struggled to breathe out my last breath, knowing it was useless, still futilely grasping at thin air. I still wanted a future with Avery. But what was left for me was the sight of Avery hugging her childhood friend as they walked down the mountain, two figures clinging tightly together for survival. The phone in my pocket suddenly rang. Fighting through the pain of my gradually stiffening body, I reached out to answer it. My already stiff arm broke as I finally picked up the phone. “Help…” Yesterday, when I received photos from a stranger, I was still in the recording studio laying down tracks. The photos showed my wife and her childhood friend being intimate. Swallowing my humiliation, I trailed at the end of the cycling group, watching them flirt in front of me. This mountain range was dangerous for cycling, with frequent extreme weather. I was worried about Avery’s safety. But my fears came true: torrential rain, gale-force winds, hail, and thick fog all hit at once. At the back of the group, I endured many times more suffering than the others. The people in front escaped death by the skin of their teeth, but Death had grabbed my ankle and was dragging me back. Once, we took a bus along the coast. She frowned when she noticed the sea breeze made me cold, closing the window for me and warming my hands with her breath. Now, in the silent mountain forest, I lay on the muddy ground, allowing wind and rain to erode my body as I died without a sound. At the foot of the mountain, several tents had been set up. People were struggling to find firewood to light a campfire for warmth. Jasper used the campfire to light a cigarette for Avery, then obediently lay in her arms. I sat high atop a tent, looking towards where my body lay. Fierce winds whipped up layers of dark clouds that tumbled and rolled. I couldn’t feel the cold at all. The mountain base was so far from me, yet Avery had abandoned me, who had rushed here ill-prepared. With her actions, Avery had shattered the beautiful memories of us that remained in my heart.
People gathered around the campfire. A male colleague who knew me spoke up softly: “Ms. Parker, is Mr. Gray in your tent?” Avery’s tone was mocking: “Mr. Gray? What’s he to you? Has he paid your salary?” Jasper in her arms suddenly became sad, as if feeling left out. Avery quickly comforted him, glaring at that colleague: “Call him Mr. Reed. No, that doesn’t sound good. How about we call our darling ‘Mr. Jasper’, hmm?” The colleague stammered for a while, anxious but helpless: “Mr. Jasper, do you know where that guy at the back went?” Jasper snuggled deeper into Avery’s arms, not answering him. The colleague quietly called over a few subordinates, huddling together: “Let’s go look for Mr. Gray. I don’t think I saw him come back. What if he’s hurt up in the mountains?” They were about to head back up the mountain. Avery had just put Jasper to sleep in the tent. Seeing the group whispering suspiciously, she spoke venomously: “He can walk down by himself. Are you lot trying to die on the mountain, or get us all eaten by wolves?” As if on cue, a chorus of wolf howls echoed from the distant forest. “But, but Mr. Gray is all alone…” That colleague was nearly in tears from anxiety. Avery angrily lifted the tent flap and went back inside, coldly tossing out one last sentence. “How many times have you even spoken to Lucas Gray? What kind of person do you think he is, to risk your lives for him like this? What does it matter to you if he lives or dies?” “I won’t stop anyone who still wants to go look, but from the moment you step into the forest, consider yourselves fired, without even severance pay!” Indeed, these colleagues who had only met me a few times knew I was missing and wanted to find me. While Avery, after eight years together, all the countless money and time I had spent on her, only responded with harsh words. When she was starting her business, I was at the peak of my career, with my songs popular across the country. I put aside all my work to help her research the market. When a boss made her drink three bottles of liquor, I drank them for her out of concern, damaging a singer’s most important asset – my voice. I could only switch to doing rap instead. I accompanied her without complaint as she built the company bit by bit. I didn’t understand what I had done to deserve this from her. What made her so certain I could walk out of the mountains on my own? I couldn’t help but wonder myself. My soul was confined near Avery, watching her enter the tent. Jasper inside was covered with her clothes. As Avery tucked him in, she realized Jasper had only been pretending to sleep, his eyes red from crying. “Baby, don’t cry anymore.” She kissed away his tears lovingly. Jasper hugged her tightly in return. I silently observed everything. Whenever Avery saw me cry, she would always keep her distance. Once when drunk, she finally revealed her true feelings to me: “Lucas, do you know how afraid I am to see your tears? They’re proof of my incompetence.” I had originally thought this was her way of expressing her love for me. But I never considered that women are naturally inclined to pity men – she simply didn’t love me and chose to turn a blind eye. Jasper and Avery were childhood friends. When I first met them, Avery was just a little brat. I was in a band with Avery’s sister Sophia. Sophia pointed at her little sister and told me helplessly: “The little brat wants to come see the world.” So Avery gradually occupied my life. She would play games nearby while I worked, and chat with me during my breaks. When her parents pressured her too much, she showed up at my door on a rainy night, stubbornly silent until I pulled her inside. We gradually got together, secretly married against everyone’s wishes. She tried starting a business. Having entered society earlier, I had met many people, so I helped her negotiate deals. At some point, I noticed Avery increasingly disliked talking about work with me. Whenever the company came up, her face would immediately darken, and she’d throw down her chopsticks and leave. “Don’t just talk to me about money. How did you become this kind of person?” “I know you’re confident in everything you do, but when you’re with me, can’t you be less materialistic?” I felt wronged, thinking of the month I stayed up late investigating competitors, the business partners I had to schmooze with a fake smile, the endless gifts I had to send even though they were useless. My voice ruined from drinking, my body gradually falling ill from inability to adjust. I nodded meekly. I thought, this is the person I love most, I want a future with her. There’s nothing worth arguing about. No matter how bitter or difficult, I’ve come through it all alone. When I first suspected I might be ill, I ignored how Avery kept smiling stupidly at her phone during meals, as if reliving a first love. I recalled those pill bottles not very well hidden in the bedside drawer, which Avery always ignored. But when I went to the hospital alone for a check-up, I saw photos sent from an unknown contact on SnapChat. A man and woman leaning close together, laughing. It was my wife and her childhood friend. I wanted to go crazy, to cry my heart out, to demand why she would do this. But then I saw the location. It was a place where cycling enthusiasts often had accidents. I bought the fastest ticket there, arriving at the team building location, only to receive a few harsh words. My soul felt empty. As she wished, I would never ask about her work again, completely disappearing from her world.
Gloom shrouded the campsite as Sophia rushed there in a hurry. People had called for rescue, and firefighters quickly began search and rescue operations in the mountains after assessing the situation. Avery refused to speak with Sophia, only cuddling with Jasper in their own intimate little world off to the side. Jasper unhappily threw off his jacket. Avery coaxed him, repeatedly picking it up and gently putting it back on him, telling him not to get cold. Sophia chased after Ryan, the colleague who had wanted to search for me earlier, repeatedly asking about what had happened. The more she asked, the more distressed Ryan became: “I don’t know. There was fog and then a hailstorm. Avery told us to go ahead while she brought up the rear. I never saw Lucas again after that.” It seemed Avery had already warned them not to call me “Mr. Gray” anymore, fearing it would upset her darling Jasper. I smiled wryly. Avery finished comforting Jasper and was now nonchalantly brushing his hair by the campfire. The more Sophia heard, the angrier she became. Unable to contain her rage any longer, she yanked Avery away, startling Jasper who nearly toppled into the fire. Avery frantically shielded Jasper, her body shaking with anxiety: “Sis, what are you doing?! Don’t you know my baby gets scared easily!” “Lucas is missing and possibly dead. You were the last one to talk to him. You’re refusing to give the rescue team any information. Do you know you’re sending him to his death?!” Sophia shouted. Avery shook off Sophia’s tight grip on her hand, leisurely fixing every stray hair on Jasper’s head. Back when we were deeply in love, I grew my hair to medium length at the nape of my neck, like those artists. She would smile and say, “Honey, you’re the most handsome to me no matter what hairstyle you have.” Now she said: “Lucas missing and possibly dead? Ha! That man just loves having people worry about him and die for him. He won’t die.” Avery was cold-hearted, remaining unmoved while everyone else worried. Jasper took out a mirror – a wedding anniversary gift I had once lost that Avery had given me – and examined his short hair from different angles. “Babe, should I grow it out a bit?” he asked. “Long hair is for sissies. It’s ugly,” Avery replied with disgust. So the words people say when in love are sweet as honey, but when love is gone, they become invisible daggers that kill. Sophia frowned severely at Jasper: “Why are you two together? Where did Lucas really go?” Jasper had grown up in the shadow of the “neighbor’s kid” Sophia since childhood. Seeing her was like seeing a stern disciplinarian. He hid in Avery’s arms, eyes vacant as he cried: “It wasn’t me. I don’t know anything.” “Sis, you’re overstepping. Why are we together? It’s to make way for you and Lucas!” Avery pulled Jasper behind her, her voice tinged with difficulty. “You think I don’t know what this place is? Mount Cedar is where you confessed to Lucas!”
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